Monopoly
by caeai
Summary: Where does the board game belong in the Wizarding World?


**_~A/N~ Hi! To kick off this short little one shot, I'm warning you that it's not historically correct, but I was playing Monopoly with my friends and Harry Potter was on the brain_**{Big shocker, right?}**_ So, please excuse my inaccurate timing and please review!_**

* * *

Salazar Slytherin glared moodily at the game Helga was setting up in front of him on the floor of the Great Hall. He could still be in his dungeons, experimenting with different potion ingredients. _Godric _had_ said it was a game all about ambition. He _couldn't_ let the others think he wasn't ambitious._ He ignored the fact that he was _opening a magic school_ with the other three and they already knew he was ambitious.

He wondered absently how Rowena had been talked into this as the botanist counted out- "Why is the money paper?"

Helga's long, graceful fingers froze and her unkempt golden wavy locks twisted around her face as her head bobbed up. "Did Godric not tell you? It's a Muggle game. I've heard that they use paper instead of metal for currency."

Salazar sighed in irritation and stood abruptly. "I'll be leaving, now. _I_ don't have time to waste playing a silly little _Muggle_ game."

Helga sighed, and Salazar felt the intense wish to be able to read her rise _again_ before he shoved it down, pushed his cloak behind him and strode to the door.

"I was looking forward to this. It won't be the_ same_ without him. He's going to be down in his dungeons all alone. _Wait!" _Salazar, nearly to the door, heard something fluttering in the air and the swishing of fabric. He jumped internally when Helga's tan face smiled up at him from beside him. Her yellow skirts swirled around her ankles- _He didn't think he'd ever seen her wear shoes-_ as she twined her arm in his. "I'm sure Rowena and Godric can find something to do, if they don't want to play by themselves. You need company."

Salazar's lips thinned. "Company is fine."

Helga's arm tightened slightly on his. "And what are we going to b-"

"Godric, won't you come with me? I need _decent _company." He smirked triumphantly at Helga.

Helga dropped her arm before Salazar could yank his away and held his gaze for a moment. She looked pained for a moment as she let her eyes close. She took a few steps back and dropped her chin a bit. "Do have fun, won't you?"

She turned back and walked purposefully to the game board, kneeling before it, picking up the play money and separating it by color, nodding absently to Rowena's brusque pat on the knee and her murmured words. Godric got to his feet, ruffling Helga's hair reassuringly before joining Salazar.

Salazar was surprised that Godric let them get all the way down into the dungeons before saying a word.

"Sal, that was mean." Salazar frowned. Godric sounded _resigned_. The brave man had yelled and berated Salazar over his treatment of Helga more times than Salazar cared to count. Why was it different this time? "I'm done trying to _make _you do anything. I should have known it was pointless to begin with, but I'm almost as stubborn as you are. But, Salazar, I shouldn't _have_ to need to make you treat Helga with a modicum of respect. She's just as much a partner of this venture as I am." When that had no effect, Godric changed his tactic. "How would you react if Rowena intimated that you weren't cunning?"

Black scales rippled across Salazar's neck before smoothing back into pale skin. His pupils narrowed to slits for a moment. "She wouldn't make the mistake of doing it twice."

"Well then, why don't you stop practically spitting it in her face that you think Helga's an absolute bore when she prides herself on being entertaining!" Salazar had never heard Godric get short with anyone before, not even a student.

"Those two situations are nothing alike, Godric! I am simply not going to try to explain the intricacies of potion ingredients to a witch who's too thick to under-"

"Merlin, are you even _listening _to yourself? Of course Helga understands potion ingredients! She _grows _your ingredients, you insufferable, bigoted idiot! Now get your arse back up there and pin a smile on your face while we're playing Monopoly!"

* * *

Salazar was surprised at how much genuine fun he was having. Godric was buying every property he could, but could barely afford to pay it off when he landed on someone else's property. He didn't mind much; his cobalt eyes shone with laughter. Rowena wasn't doing poorly, but she wasn't excelling, either. She seemed to loathe risk, which was unexpected from such a strong willed woman. Salazar himself favored trading and buying properties from someone else, namely Godric.

Helga hardly even paid attention. Rowena had read the rules aloud and they had quickly jumped into their first game, but Helga had picked up the pamphlet and studied each section on her own, rolling only when Godric prompted her, counting out money lackadaisically when buying properties or paying rent, and absentmindedly telling the rent of a property when it was asked of her.

It was Salazar's turn when Helga finally put down the rules. He rolled and counted his silver snake emblem down the board. "Reading Railroad…" He rifled through the available properties. "It's already been bought."

Helga, sitting across from him, looked down at her little cardboard squares. She ran her finger down the card, making sure she understood what it said before she relayed it to Salazar. "You need to pay me two hundred dollars."

Rowena turned sharply to look at Helga. "I thought railroads were only twenty five for landing on them."

Helga nodded. "If a player only owns one. I own all four." She picked up her small stack of properties and laid them, one by one, on the floor beside her money.

Salazar snorted. "Twenty five four times equals-"

Rowena had leaned over to skim the front of one of the cards, absently holding her midnight curls out of the way. "No, she's right. The amount doubles every time a player gets a new railroad. You do owe her two hundred dollars."

Salazar huffed and asked that his two hundred dollars for passing Go be handed to Helga. Rowena, the banker, obliged, then took her turn.

Salazar traded his way into a monopoly and instantly bought hotels to put on the three green properties. Double sixes landed him on a Chance, which got him a Get out of Jail Free card. He bit his tongue trying to keep from cursing Helga when he rolled and landed on her fourth railroad, but gave her two hundred dollars silently.

Rowena got a tiny bit more aggressive to try to swell her coffers. She managed to convince Godric to trade her the Waterworks for a purple property. Her dark curls, which she normally kept neat, were shoved impatiently back behind her ears, and her shrewd ice blue eyes kept peeking what Salazar owned. And he owned practically the entire board.

Helga laughed heartily when she landed on the Go to Jail spot and clapped when Godric managed to roll exactly what he needed to avoid Salazar's ridiculously high rent. "Oh, wonderful rolling, Godric. Yay for you!" Godric stroked his caramel beard with joking self importance.

Salazar twitched with the effort of keeping his own council. He scrubbed a hand viciously over his dark, closely trimmed beard, rolled and- _Dammit!-_ He only barely kept the word to himself. He spread his lips in a patently false smile and accepted his reward for passing Go from Rowena before handing it directly to the woman across from him.

Helga pushed the part out of her hair with one hand while accepting his money with the other. "Thank you, Sa-" A pout replaced her normally sunny smile. "Oh, don't be mad at me, Salazar. Here-" She pushed the money back at him. "I don't need it."

"No." He shoved Helga's hand away. "I'm playing the game." He practically threw the dice at Rowena.

Helga frowned and snatched up one of the dice. "No, that doesn't make any sense. Salazar, take your money."

"It's not mine! You're the one that spent forty five minutes reading the rules! Now follow them!"

"Well, maybe if I thought taking this money would help me later, I would!"

Rowena raised a defined brow. "Have you two switched personalities?" She wasn't in the least bit surprised that Helga and Salazar had managed to get into a shouting match and she could tell Godric wasn't either, but neither of them had ever abandoned their key characteristics so completely during a bout of arguing. In fact, Salazar had yelled at Helga on more than one occasion about being a rule stickler.

Their attention snapped to Rowena simultaneously. "What?" Their voices fit together better than expected.

Rowena looked at Godric and rolled her eyes. "Since when has breaking the rules been below Salazar Slytherin?"

"And Helga Hufflepuff has never done a thing in her life just to get ahead."

Salazar huffed out a breath and rolled his eyes. "I am excusing myself." He stood gracefully and the swishing of his cloak escorted him out.

* * *

Salazar Slytherin couldn't explain why her short little note stuck to his bedchamber door made him smile so much.

_Sal-_

_ Thanks for the game. I had loads of fun and hope you'll be convinced to play again. _

_You made my day,_

_ Helga_

* * *

**_~A/N~ To those of you reading Darling, Perfect's Boring, I apologize for being so slow. I really am working on it, but I've got loads of other work to get ready for school. _**

**_On a completely unrelated note, anyone in the Liverpool area, if you get the chance to shop in Liverpool One this summer, listen up for a band called The Basement Effect. The oldest performer is 15 years old at most, and the youngest, the drummer, can't be older than 10. They're very impressive and I got to see them on my European trip._**

**_Bye!_**


End file.
